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tion. So the preacher has no need to inform his hearers that he feels interested in his subject. If such be the fact, they will either become aware of it, or, what is more important, will find a similar feeling awakened in their own bosoms.

The principle here stated, shows emphatically the danger of relying upon old sermons and plans of discourse, as well as that of the too frequent repetition of sermons. There is something in the genesis of thought which not only causes the mind to glow with interest, but which kindles a similar glow in the minds of others. That glow having once expired in the speaker's breast, it is difficult, if not impossible, to rekindle it. The "threadbare story," or the "thricetold tale," may drag its length along; but no matter how well chosen the language, or how well-adjusted the periods, no enthusiasm marks the utterance, and that which originally sparkled and vivified is now dull and stale.

Whoever supposes that a stock of old sermons will avail him as well as new where they have not been heard, deceives himself. It is only when the preacher can, by special review, bring back to his own mind the original feeling of interest, that he will succeed with the productions of the past. And if his mind be at all progressive, this will be exceedingly difficult, unless he can blend new things with old in such a manner as to increase the interest of both.

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As well might the man of middle years expect to recover his original interest in the trifles that amused his boyhood, as the preacher in advanced life to be thoroughly interested in the best compositions of his school-days or his incipient ministry. themes may be equally interesting, but his comprehension of them and his capacity to illustrate them should have grown with his advance in years, and increased with his constant practice.

If these views are correct, it may be safely remarked that no style of pulpit preparation, however elaborate, is sufficient to answer the highest ends of preaching for a great length of time. Hence the rule should be to

make special preparation for every occasion of preaching, at least to an extent that will thoroughly enlist the thoughts and interested feelings of the preacher. Only thus will he be in a position to interest others.

Some preachers, when they have preached a choice sermon, count it as a substantial addition to their stock in trade, to be carefully hoarded for future use. Not so the great preachers of the day, who, having confidence in their own powers to produce as good sermons in the future as they have done in the past, and indeed better than any of their past productions would be in the future, do not hesitate to give their sermons promptly to the press.

Thus they put themselves under the necessity of constant and increasing mental activity, and the result is that they acquire additional strength with each increasing effort. Other preachers may safely imitate their habits in this respect; remembering that though novelty is not an essential element of interest, freshness is.— Doctor Kidder's Treatise on Homiletics, p. 175-7.

REMARKABLE DAM ON THE UPPER NILE.

THE extraordinary obstruction that since our passage in 1863 (two years before) had dammed the White Nile. There was considerable danger in the descent of the river upon nearing this peculiar dam, as the stream plunged below it by a subterranean channel with a rush like a cataract. A large diahbiah laden with ivory had been carried beneath the dam on her descent from Gondokoro in the previous year, and had never been seen afterwards. I ordered the reis to have the anchor in readiness, and two powerful hawsers; should we arrive in the evening, he was to secure the vessel to the bank, and not to attempt the passage through the canal until the following morning. We anchored about half a mile above the dam.

This part of the Nile is boundless marsh, portions of which were at this season terra firma. The river ran from west to east; the south bank actual ground covered with

was

mimosas, but to the north and west the flat marsh covered with high weeds was interminable.

At daybreak we manned our oars and floated down the rapid stream. In a few minutes we heard the rush of water, and we saw the dam stretching across the river before us. The marsh being firm, our men immediately jumped out on the left bank and manned the hawsers-one fastened from the stern, the other from the bow; this arrangement prevented the boat from turning broadside on to the dam, by which accident the shipwrecked Diahbiah had been lost. As we approached the dam I perceived the canal or ditch that had been cut by the crews of the vessels that had ascended the river; it was about ten feet wide, and would barely allow the passage of our Diahbiah. This canal was already choked with masses of floating vegetation, and natural rafts of reeds and mud that the river carried with it, the accumulation of which had originally formed the dam.

Having secured the vessel by carrying out an anchor astern and burying it on the marsh, while a rope fastened from the bow to the high reeds kept her stern to the stream, all hands jumped into the canal and commenced dragging out the entangled masses of weed, reeds, ambatch wood, grass, and mud that had choked the entrance. Half a day was thus passed, at the expiration of which time we towed our vessel safely into the ditch, where she lay out of danger. It was necessary to discharge all cargo from the boat, in order to reduce her draught of water.

This tedious operation completed, and many bushels of corn being piled upon mats spread upon the reeds beaten flat, we endeavoured to push her along the canal. Although the obstruction was annoying, it was a most interesting object.

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The river had suddenly disappeared; there was apparently an end to the White Nile The dam was about three-quarters of a mile wide; it was perfectly firm, and was already overgrown with high weeds and grass, thus forming a continuation of the surrounding country. Many of the traders'

people had died of the plague at this spot during the delay of some weeks in cutting the canal; the graves of these dead were upon the dam. The bottom of the canal that had been cut through the dam was perfectly firm, composed of sand, mud, and interwoven decaying vegetation. The river arrived with great force at the abrupt edge of the obstruction, bringing with it all kinds of trash and large floating islands. None of these objects hitched against the edge, but the instant they struck, they dived under and disappeared. It was in this manner that the vessel had been lost-having missed the narrow entrance to the canal, she had struck the dam stem on; the force of the current immediately turned her broadside against the obstruction; the floating islands and masses of vegetation brought down by the river were heaped against her, and heeling over on her side, she was sucked bodily under, and carried beneath the dam; her crew had time to save themselves by leaping upon the firm barrier that had wrecked their ship. The boatmen told me that dead hippopotami had been found on the other side, that had been carried under the dam and drowned.

Two days' hard work from morning till night brought us through the canal, and we once more found ourselves on the open Nile on the other side of the dam. The river was in that spot perfectly clean, not a vestige of floating vegetation could be seen upon its waters; in its subterranean passage it had passed through a natural sieve, leaving all foreign matter behind to add to the bulk of the already stupendous work.-Baker's Explorations, vol. ii., pp. 329-332.

GOD'S PRESENCE AND ACTIVITY

EVERYWHERE.

THE materialism of the day has its creed on the subject. According to it, the world may have been indebted for its origin to the will of God; but everything ever since has proceeded according to law and natural development. According to it, all that we behold is only the result of an impulse given far back in eternity, by a Being ever since far off in space. According

to it, creation is now independent of its Creator! For aught it knows or cares, He may even have ceased to exist it can do without Him. In a word, it denies His providential government; as if, forsooth, we could conceive of a self-sustained universe, any more than we can of a self-originated creation. It pretends to a concern for the Divine dignity and ease, as if the infinite God were a being like ourselves, whose distinction may consist in doing nothing; or as if it would be a degradation for Him to sustain a world which it was yet His glory to create. It pleads the regularity of nature as a proof that all is resolvable into law; as if, forsooth, law had any meaning apart from mind, or as if God would govern in any way except by law. It represents the Omniscient as if He saw nothing, the Omnipotent as doing nothing, the Omnipresent as universally absent, the All-sufficient as the author of a universe which excludes His own activity.

Far different is the doctrine of scripture. It teaches me to combine the doctrine of His original appointment with that of His ever-present agency. Everything has the ground of its existence, from moment to moment, in the will of God. Every law in nature is a mode of His working, and a proclamation of His order. Every atom has its holy of holies which He inhabits. He underlies

every surface on which our eye may rest, and is enshrined in every material object we admire. Physically, He is present with every part of my system; and present with every different part in a different respect. With my organisation, He is present as life, and even with my will, not indeed to move it, but to sustain it in the power of self-motion. In the spiritual kingdom, every ordinance is as an instrument of which He is the power; every institution, a form of which He is the essence; every Christian soul, a moving temple of Him the Infinite. I am not alone with my Spirit. He himself inhabits my consciousness.

So near

is He, that a desire reveals Him as not only present, but as present and working. And, as in some passages

of scripture it is difficult to determine whether the phrase "the love of God" means His love to us, or ours to Him, so in some states of the mind it is not easy to decide (happy perplexity !) whether the flame of holy love of which we are conscious, burns from Him to us, or the converse. "He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him."

Beyond this, the Bible draws aside the veil which hides the spiritual world from our view, and, behold, a vast scheme of providence administered by God himself; a scheme in which every want of His people is noticed, every object numbered; every being moving in the direct gaze of Omniscience. Every human pang is seen vibrating to the throne of God. Lines of relation are seen to be established between every sanctified trial on earth and the blessedness of the remotest future. Angels are seen speeding on His service in every direction. Horses and chariots of fire encompass the endangered servant of God. And even the solitary and benighted pilgrim, apparently alone on the desert, is in reality reposing at the very gate of heaven.— Posthumous works of the Rev. John Harris, D.D.-Jacob's Dream, vol. ii. pp. 299-300.

PROPERTY IN RELATION TO
CONSCIENCE.

"Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ?"

WHEN property is looked at from a higher stand-point, and in relation to a higher sphere, it is not the absolute possession of any creature. And hence no creature has an absolute right to do with his property as he pleases. He is bound to consult the pleasure of the original and absolute Proprietor. In the case, again, of this absolute Proprietor Himself, the question of lawfulness, in relation to his disposal of what is His own, does not, strictly speaking, come in at all. As original Proprietor, He is not under law. There is no one above Him to be His lawgiver. But yet His will, being will, is merely will, and is hence as truly under an imperative as is the will of any of His creatures, the imperative of His

ment, and begin to spread the fame of Jesus. The faith of the disciples, Andrew, Philip, Peter, and Nathaniel, is strengthened in His Messiahship, and He has proved himself equal with the Creator.

"O wondrous Being, we adore thee."

It was the custom of the ancients to place a skeleton in the midst of the banqueting room, to remind the guests pleasure has an end, and bid them think on death.

Here, at Cana, however, is no such ghastly sight to evoke gloomy thoughts; but Jesus, the "Lord of Life," is present, rejoicing with those who rejoice, and by His presence checking the excesses of the intemperate, and preventing Satan's reigning supreme, as he too often does in like festivities.

Unspeakably happy are they who make the same Jesus a welcome guest on all such eventful occasions.

What an evidence is here of the great interest the Son of Man takes in the whole round of human life: alike does He visit the house of mourning, consoling the suffering and sorrowing; and the house of joy, cheering and blessing; proving himself to be the bearer of our sorrows, and acquainted with our griefs-one with ourselves, even our elder brother.

But we must bid farewell to the whole scene. The feast has ended; the music has ceased; the bride has been conducted to her husband's house, and the guests have departed; but never through the long ages of eternity will this wonderful display of divine power and sympathetic benevolence be forgotten.

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And as we depart, our imagination opens up another scene, surpassing in beauty the one upon which we have been so delightedly gazing. Another banqueting hall appears before our eyes, where Jesus is mingling with the hosts of those who have accepted the invitation of the "feast of feasts and pleasures. He again provides for the guests, as at Cana He provided the wine. Ten thousand times ten thousand are pa taking of this feast, which will last for evermore; and sweeter music far than that of tabret, harp, or cymbal, floats through that

high abode where Satan never enters, and drunkards do not dwell. And as we look and listen, the cry bursts forth from our hearts,

Oh, let us join yon happy band,
And in their midst sit down;
Partake with them the royal feast,
And wear the golden crown.

ALBERT.

THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS. THE first time I heard Dr. A. Clarke preach, he said: "Some people, in speaking to God in prayer, tell him how great he is. Now, there is no necessity to tell Him that, for He must know more about His greatness than any creature can tell Him." This remark of the doctor had this effect upon me, that, since that time, in approaching God in prayer, I have not used a number of words expressive of His greatness, wisdom, or

power.

There are other practices in prayer into which we fall, which have no sensible ground to rest on. There is one which is very common, and which I may call the depreciatory practice. The last preacher I heard, in his opening prayer, was telling God what woful beings we are; that if He had only noticed a millionth part of our sins, we should have been weeping and wailing and gnashing our teeth. These sentiments uttered in his prayer were brought up again in his sermon, and the way in which he spoke of mankind reflected no honour, I thought, on our great Creator and Preserver. This way of speaking of ourselves or of others, as far as my knowledge of the Bible extends, is not supported by the oracles of truth. Man, though a ruin, is a glorious ruin there are remains of that temple which at the first was filled with the Divine glory, and it is destined yet to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Man is low enough, when we view him as a fallen being: and although the gospel is intended to raise him from his fallen condition, this will not be done by sinking him lower than he really is. One wonders, when such sentiments as the above are uttered from Methodist pulpits, where the preachers have got their lessons from: surely not from Him

In fact, it was uphill work, and, but for the grace of God, I should have given up in despair; but "by the grace of God I am what I am."

My principal hindrance was shame; for even in the darkest night, and away from every mortal ear, except my own, I was ashamed to bend the knee or hear my own voice in prayer. I say this was the principal hindrance with regard to myself. But some readers of our magazine may have other hindrances, such as pride, covetousness, evil company, the love of drink, or love of worldly amusements, These things prevent our salvation. and are ruinous in the extreme. Dear reader, if anything stands between thy soul and God, then away with it at once: it is in vain to expect pardon and peace unless there be, first, a giving up of these things on our part.

But such is the loving kindness of God, He overruled even my shame for His glory. At that time, I had an ungodly brother, who was my worst persecutor, and who tried various means to defeat me; but, finding his ordinary efforts a failure, he resolved to try the following scheme. In consequence of my being so much ashamed, of course I sought the opportunity to retire to bed alone. He, seeing this, made off to bed before me one evening; and, on my entering the room, he was apparently sound in sleep. It was Saturday evening, and on the following Sabbath there was to be a love-feast at the chapel. Consequently, I felt overjoyed, and whispered to myself, "I shall have a good day to-morrow." The Sabbath came, and I found my way to the love-feast; but just as I thought of enjoying it, this persecuting one walked in, and that proved another shock to me. Time passed away, and he became more calm, until the next love-feast, when he stood up and said, Some time ago, seeing my brother went to bed alone, I determined to trap him, and, for this purpose, went to bed first, and pretended to be asleep, to see and hear what he did; and I heard him going about the room saying, 'I shall have a good day to-morrow.' Then I determined to come here, to see what he

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was going to have; but while I was here I was convinced of my sin."

Yes, this persecutor became converted to God, and lived the life of a Christian. He is now removed to the rest above, having left behind him a testimony that he now lives with those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Christian reader, be not surprised if thy worst enemy is one of thine own family; for the devil generally begins at home. Remember the words of thy Lord and Master: "Ye shall be hated of all men for my name sake; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." A consistent, persevering course, in the strength of the Lord, will be honoured by him, in converting our worst enemies, as the above narrative will show. But let me repeat to thee the title of this article: "Never despair."

Allow me to make a few more remarks, for I have another brother, that was once an outcast of society, principally through that demon drink! But now he is clothed, and in his right mind. Thanks to God and the temperance cause, he is now a devoted Christian, full of Christian zeal and love. Once I despaired of his conversion, and almost gave him up as lost. Reader, if thou hast such about thee, pray on, and never despair.

Being a local preacher, some years ago I walked to the village of Pa distance of eight miles, to preach. My congregation was about a dozen. I talked as well as I could, and felt at liberty with the friends. After the evening service, I walked home again. Eight years passed away before I visited that place again; but, on my next visit, I was reminded of my services eight years before. The good lady that entertained me said: "Mrs.

was brought in under something you said when you were here last." This circumstance has taught me never to despise small congregations, or too hastily consider my labour lost.

Brethren, our journeys may be long, and congregations small, and our hands may hang down. The devil may tempt us to stay at home, but let us go on, and never despair.

D. B.

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